Penny Pritzker - Tax Relief for Billionaires: Property Taxes and the Pritzker Family lyrics

Scions of the billionaire Pritzker clan, Chicago's richest family and the fifth wealthiest family in America, have routinely obtained local property tax reductions on their multi-million dollar Chicago residences, availing themselves of legal loopholes to lower their property a**essments by as much as 62 percent. UNITE HERE reviewed property tax records of the Gold Coast and Lincoln Park residences of key members of the Pritzker family who control Hyatt Hotels Corporation, including Tom Pritzker, Penny Pritzker, Nick Pritzker, and Gigi Pritzker Pucker, as well as Hyatt Hotels Corporation CEO Mark Hoplamazian. The residences include several modern and historic mansions, co-op apartments facing Lincoln Park, as well as a couple of relatively modest pied-a-terre condos and a residential property that appears to be used by a Pritzker family foundation run by Tom Pritzker's wife, Margot. In 2011, the properties had an estimated combined market value of $20.4 million, according to the Cook County Assessor's office (see Appendix 1 for full property list). Their collective 2010 tax bills payable in 2011 totaled roughly $324,000. Since 2003, the properties' owners have appealed the a**essed value of those properties at least 70 times. Twenty eight of those appeals yielded a reduction in a**essed value. Twelve of those appeals covering five properties are still pending. An estimated $344,000 in tax revenue has been lost from 2006 to 2010 due to appeals on these properties. This is a**uming that the properties' owners paid the general city tax rate as reported by the Cook County Clerk, and that without appeals they would have paid taxes based on the properties' original a**essed value as determined by the Cook County Assessor. Property Taxes in Cook County Residential property taxes are based on a property's a**essed value, which is generally determined to be 10 percent of the property's market value. Properties in Cook County are a**essed every three years by the Cook County Assessor. Property owners in Cook County have three opportunities to appeal their property a**essments annually. An owner can appeal his or her a**essment directly with the Cook County Assessor's office. A complaint can additionally be filed with the Cook County Board of Review (BOR), a three-member elected body. The third step is the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board (PTAB), a state-level body where an owner can appeal a ruling by the BOR. Property taxes support Chicago's schools, parks, and libraries. In 2010, 52 percent of the typical Chicagoan's property taxes went to the Chicago Board of Education. Penny Pritzker is one of seven members of the Chicago Board of Education. Her husband, Bryan Traubert, is the President of the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners. Penny Pritzker Penny Pritzker began developing her modernist Lincoln Park mansion, which the Chicago Tribune described as a “rectangular slab of tobacco-colored stucco stacked between two boxes of gla**” with a “frontage the width of half a football field” ten years ago. She a**embled four parcels in Lincoln Park in 2002 and 2003 at a cost of $7.05 million. The existing structures were torn down, and a 8,422 square foot house was built at a reported estimated cost of $3.4 million, bringing the total cost of the new home completed in 2007 to at least $10.4 million. The property is held in the name of Orchard Street Land, LLC, which is registered at the Hyatt Center and managed by Pritzker family insider Ron Wray. Property tax bills have been sent to her business a**ociate John Kevin Poorman. Penny Pritzker and her family are registered to vote at the property. Attorneys fought to lower the a**essments ten times from 2006 to 2010 at all three levels of the appeals process, including filing appeals every year with the Assessor from 2006 to 2009, and every year with the Board of Review from 2007 to 2010. Such persistence has yielded reduced a**essments every year from 2006 to 2009, including a 62 percent reduction in 2006 and a 42 percent reduction in 2009 (see chart below). An examination of the property's 2009 appeals demonstrates how persistence can pay off. If at first you don't succeed, try again, and again, and again In 2009, the Cook County Assessor re-a**essed the property at a market value of $9.6 million. An appeal arguing that the property was a**essed at a higher value per square foot than comparable properties was filed with the Assessor's office. In denying the appeal, the Assessor's office acknowledged that “although this value is not uniform with other properties” in the area, “it is a unique property and was valued as such.” After failing to secure a reduction from the Assessor, an appeal was filed with the BOR. The new appeal used the same argument as the failed appeal to the Assessor, but succeeded in securing a reduction in the property's aggregate a**essed value from $963,871 to $558,484, or a decrease of 42.1 percent. Even when appeals to the Assessor were successful, appeals have been filed at the subsequent steps to seek deeper reductions. In 2007 and 2008, reductions were won from the Assessor and/or BOR, and appeals were still filed with the PTAB seeking additional reductions in a**essed value. The property's appeals for its 2007 and 2008 a**essments are pending before the PTAB. If appeals with the PTAB are successful, the refund could come at the expense of the Chicago Board of Education and other public agencies. Not Missing a Beat: Tom Pritzker and Gigi Pritzker Tom Pritzker and Gigi Pritzker Pucker both live in a historic cooperative overlooking Lincoln Park. Tom Pritzker and Gigi's husband Michael Pucker each reside in a two-story duplex comprising a 1/17th share of the co-op. The building has appealed its property taxes at least fifteen times since 2003. The building has won reductions for four of the past nine years, including a reduction of 27 percent in 2009. Three appeals are pending with the PTAB. The Chicago Board of Education intervened in the building's 2003 and 2005 appeals with the PTAB. Tom has benefited from efforts to drive down the a**essed value of his former nearby small and relatively inexpensive condominium. Tom Pritzker owned a unit in the Gold Coast's Carl Sandburg Village development, which he sold in September 2011 for $240,000. From 2003 to 2011, seven appeals were filed with the Assessor and BOR, yielding a 4.5 percent reduction in value in 2009 and a 13.1 percent reduction in 2010. His 2010 tax bill was less than $4,000. Gigi Pritzker Pucker and her husband purchased a condo on nearby Saint James Place in 1994 for $49,000. Since 2003, two unsuccessful attempts to lower the a**essment have been made since 2003. The property's 2010 tax bill was $3,362. Persistent and Pervasive Tax Appeals Nick Pritzker and the late Robert Pritzker have sought and secured reductions in the value of their homes in the Gold Coast and Lincoln Park from the Assessor and/or BOR. Nick Pritzker has appeals pending over his 2009 and 2010 a**essments with the PTAB. Hyatt Hotels Corporation CEO Mark Hoplamazian has also persistently fought to lower the a**essment to his house, which he purchased for $8 million and which shares an alley with Penny Pritzker's residence. Hoplamazian's attorney has filed eight appeals since he bought the property in 2004. He won a 3.7 percent reduction from the BOR in 2006, a 26.0 percent reduction from the Assessor in 2009, and a 12.5 percent reduction from the BOR in 2010. He is further appealing his 2006, 2009 and 2010 a**essments with the PTAB. An Alternative: J.B. Pritzker J.B. Pritzker has set himself apart from his sister Penny and cousins Tom and Gigi. He purchased and restored a mansion spanning three parcels in the Gold Coast in 2006 and 2007 for $18.2 million. His 2010 property tax bill – nearly $300,000 – exceeded the combined property taxes paid by Penny, Nick and Robert Pritzker at their primary residences. As of late February 2012, he has yet to appeal his property a**essments.